Over the past ten years youth ministries across the Untitled States have seen a drastic and dishearten reality: 50% of students leave the church upon graduating from High School. On top of those stats, based on research done with over 400 ex-youth group students, 16% of students feel prepared to encounter life after youth group and 40% of students struggle to find a church after graduation. Why do you think this is?
Over the next couple weeks I will be writing to this specific topic, but for now, what are your thoughts? Why are high schoolers leaving church upon graduating from High School?
April 25, 2011
April 18, 2011
Creating the Unexpected
Over the last four weeks of my church’s high school program we have taken time to step away from the normal flow of the night. In fact, the last four weeks have looked very different even from each other. The reason for this is because while routine can be good, it is good to step out of the regular ebb-and-flow of the expected. I have noticed that when groups take time to change things up, that it has a way of creating space for God to move in the mist of the unexpected.
Just think of Jesus’ disciples out on the boat in the middle of the Sea of Galilee, just before Jesus left them on the shore he told them he would meet up with them later. I doubt that one of those men thought that Jesus meant he would meet up with them in the middle of the sea. Yet, Jesus changes things up on them, and in doing so meets them in a new way as he creates space for a new lesson on the Kingdom of God.
When youth groups, churches, or camps, try new and expected things they allow for God to move in a new way. The unexpected has the ability to make students uneasy, and let’s just face it that is a good thing sometimes.
I remember this time at summer camp when the camp dropped something on the students that no one expected. Many of my students had been to so many Christian camps in their life that they knew the routine of Christian camp talks. Start with something easy and lively, then as the week goes on start to get to the good stuff that really encourages change.
After the second night of camp, I sat in a small group meeting with seven quite High School boys when one looks at me and says, “I didn’t expect this to happen to me this early in the week.” The camp had thrown off these students, and in doing so, had created space for God to move.
It can be easy to do this. Sometimes it is as easy as offering some time of reflection after a sermon or talk. It can also be as large as changing up the whole youth group by offering a “worship night” where you create a new mood by bringing in some candles, having some worship reflection exercises, and little to no talking. Or maybe you can change it up by having a “conversation night” on a specific topic that students are struggling with, or on a specific theological topic such as “is Jesus the only way?”
At first students might be a little uneasy, but once you direct them and set the tone for them, students are great at adapting to the situation in front of them.
Therefore, I encourage you to take a step into an expected place with students this week or in the coming months. In so doing so, I hope that you see God move in a mighty and unexpected way.
Just think of Jesus’ disciples out on the boat in the middle of the Sea of Galilee, just before Jesus left them on the shore he told them he would meet up with them later. I doubt that one of those men thought that Jesus meant he would meet up with them in the middle of the sea. Yet, Jesus changes things up on them, and in doing so meets them in a new way as he creates space for a new lesson on the Kingdom of God.
When youth groups, churches, or camps, try new and expected things they allow for God to move in a new way. The unexpected has the ability to make students uneasy, and let’s just face it that is a good thing sometimes.
I remember this time at summer camp when the camp dropped something on the students that no one expected. Many of my students had been to so many Christian camps in their life that they knew the routine of Christian camp talks. Start with something easy and lively, then as the week goes on start to get to the good stuff that really encourages change.
After the second night of camp, I sat in a small group meeting with seven quite High School boys when one looks at me and says, “I didn’t expect this to happen to me this early in the week.” The camp had thrown off these students, and in doing so, had created space for God to move.
It can be easy to do this. Sometimes it is as easy as offering some time of reflection after a sermon or talk. It can also be as large as changing up the whole youth group by offering a “worship night” where you create a new mood by bringing in some candles, having some worship reflection exercises, and little to no talking. Or maybe you can change it up by having a “conversation night” on a specific topic that students are struggling with, or on a specific theological topic such as “is Jesus the only way?”
At first students might be a little uneasy, but once you direct them and set the tone for them, students are great at adapting to the situation in front of them.
Therefore, I encourage you to take a step into an expected place with students this week or in the coming months. In so doing so, I hope that you see God move in a mighty and unexpected way.
April 11, 2011
What "Love Wins" by Rob Bell Actual Says
Since the Christian word as been up in arms about Rob Bell’s New book Love Wins, I thought I would write and clarify what he is saying for all those who don’t want to read his book, or have heard “things.” So here is what I understand Bell to be saying:
God is Love. It is this definition of God from the book of 1 John that drives all that Bell is saying. Therefore, the title “Love Wins” is a play on the fact that God is love. Therefore, ultimately God wins because he is Love.
God wins when his hope for the world comes to fulfillment within his plan of redemption. As Jesus says in John 3:16 and 2 Corinthians 5 God wants the “whole world” to be redeemed and for no one to parish.
Bell plays on this idea a lot by arguing that if God wants all to be saved, why would he reject anyone or purposely send anyone to “hell.” Don’t read too much into this though, Bell is simply saying in a very round about way that he is not a 5 point Calvinist (Aka, God doesn’t create people just to send them to hell).
The definition of Hell Bell prepossess in this book is both interesting and vague. Bell reads a lot into the original understanding of the word we translate “hell,” gehnenna. This word was the name for the local Jerusalem city dump, not this place far below the Earth’s surface. Bell also points out that when Jesus refers to “weeping and gnashing of teeth” he is again referring to gehnenna, because these are sounds that could be heard coming from the dump, as wild animals would scavenge through the trash for food. Ultimately, what Jesus means when he refers to gehnenna is a place outside of the city of Jerusalem.
At the same time, Bell works with the word “hades,” saying that he believes that this word is a Greek translation of the Hebrew sheol. Therefore, as Luke 10 states, “you will go down to Hades” is related to the Psalmist’s cry to be delivered from “sheol.” Therefore, Hades is something that one can be delivered out of, just as one can be delivered out of sheol.
This is then where Bell takes up an interesting argument, that hell exists not only after death, but now. Just as the Kingdom of Heaven is present here and now, but not yet; Bell sees, hell as being present here now, but not yet. Hell can be found on earth in the slums of India or the pits of war.
It is out of these arguments that Hell takes on the definition of being outside of the city, in sheol, in a place of misery, or away from God’s love. As Bell states, “To reject God’s grace, to turn from God’s love, to resists God’s telling, will lead to misery. It is a form of punishment, all on its own” (176). Or “God is love, and to refuse this love moves us away from it” (177). Basically, just think of C.S. Lewis’s version of “hell” in the book The Great Divorce and you have it.
Heaven is then the opposite of hell, life lived in the city, out of sheol, or in love. Those who are in heaven choose to be there, because God longs for all to be saved and will not reject those who wish to come in. God was not some mean man sitting in heaven waiting to send people to “hell,” until Jesus came in and saved humanity from the mean Father. God’s whole plan was to save us from our sin that keeps us from himself. Therefore, in a way when we have the ability to choose things over and against God. When we do this we reject God and therefore reject heaven. As C.S. Lewis writes in The Great Divorce, “the grass becomes too sharp” and “the light hurts their eyes.”
Bell even seems to allow for a chance of conversion or redemption after death stating things like, why would the city doors of Jerusalem be open if no one what let in them? People do not suffer for eternity in hell, they might only go through hell for a time. In fact, Bell argues that the understanding of eternity (aion) is not “a literal passing of time” but a “transcending time, belonging to another realm altogether.” In order to make his point, Bell walks through multiple verses that have an idea of God restoring Israel and even Egypt at a point of time in eternity. Ultimately arguing that one can be redeemed even after death, because restoration brings glory to God, not the suffering of his creation. It should be noted that C.S. Lewis’s also seems to have this theology on redemption from hell, but instead of writing it out in a theology book, he writes it as a narrative in The Great Divorce.
Bell does though fail to deal with verses just as Hebrews 9:27 that state, “And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment…” In fact, Bell almost side steps judgment all almost together. I even fingered back through the book and could not find one mention of it.
In closing, Bell is not saying anything new. He is just saying similar things to a new generation that never read the likes of C.S. Lewis.
Secondly, Bell is not a Universalist, even though some will say he is. He just simply believes that God wants all to be saved; yet some will reject him in spite of that reality.
Thirdly, the most controversial thing that Bell seems to believe is that we get another chance at heaven once we die.
God is Love. It is this definition of God from the book of 1 John that drives all that Bell is saying. Therefore, the title “Love Wins” is a play on the fact that God is love. Therefore, ultimately God wins because he is Love.
God wins when his hope for the world comes to fulfillment within his plan of redemption. As Jesus says in John 3:16 and 2 Corinthians 5 God wants the “whole world” to be redeemed and for no one to parish.
Bell plays on this idea a lot by arguing that if God wants all to be saved, why would he reject anyone or purposely send anyone to “hell.” Don’t read too much into this though, Bell is simply saying in a very round about way that he is not a 5 point Calvinist (Aka, God doesn’t create people just to send them to hell).
The definition of Hell Bell prepossess in this book is both interesting and vague. Bell reads a lot into the original understanding of the word we translate “hell,” gehnenna. This word was the name for the local Jerusalem city dump, not this place far below the Earth’s surface. Bell also points out that when Jesus refers to “weeping and gnashing of teeth” he is again referring to gehnenna, because these are sounds that could be heard coming from the dump, as wild animals would scavenge through the trash for food. Ultimately, what Jesus means when he refers to gehnenna is a place outside of the city of Jerusalem.
At the same time, Bell works with the word “hades,” saying that he believes that this word is a Greek translation of the Hebrew sheol. Therefore, as Luke 10 states, “you will go down to Hades” is related to the Psalmist’s cry to be delivered from “sheol.” Therefore, Hades is something that one can be delivered out of, just as one can be delivered out of sheol.
This is then where Bell takes up an interesting argument, that hell exists not only after death, but now. Just as the Kingdom of Heaven is present here and now, but not yet; Bell sees, hell as being present here now, but not yet. Hell can be found on earth in the slums of India or the pits of war.
It is out of these arguments that Hell takes on the definition of being outside of the city, in sheol, in a place of misery, or away from God’s love. As Bell states, “To reject God’s grace, to turn from God’s love, to resists God’s telling, will lead to misery. It is a form of punishment, all on its own” (176). Or “God is love, and to refuse this love moves us away from it” (177). Basically, just think of C.S. Lewis’s version of “hell” in the book The Great Divorce and you have it.
Heaven is then the opposite of hell, life lived in the city, out of sheol, or in love. Those who are in heaven choose to be there, because God longs for all to be saved and will not reject those who wish to come in. God was not some mean man sitting in heaven waiting to send people to “hell,” until Jesus came in and saved humanity from the mean Father. God’s whole plan was to save us from our sin that keeps us from himself. Therefore, in a way when we have the ability to choose things over and against God. When we do this we reject God and therefore reject heaven. As C.S. Lewis writes in The Great Divorce, “the grass becomes too sharp” and “the light hurts their eyes.”
Bell even seems to allow for a chance of conversion or redemption after death stating things like, why would the city doors of Jerusalem be open if no one what let in them? People do not suffer for eternity in hell, they might only go through hell for a time. In fact, Bell argues that the understanding of eternity (aion) is not “a literal passing of time” but a “transcending time, belonging to another realm altogether.” In order to make his point, Bell walks through multiple verses that have an idea of God restoring Israel and even Egypt at a point of time in eternity. Ultimately arguing that one can be redeemed even after death, because restoration brings glory to God, not the suffering of his creation. It should be noted that C.S. Lewis’s also seems to have this theology on redemption from hell, but instead of writing it out in a theology book, he writes it as a narrative in The Great Divorce.
Bell does though fail to deal with verses just as Hebrews 9:27 that state, “And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment…” In fact, Bell almost side steps judgment all almost together. I even fingered back through the book and could not find one mention of it.
In closing, Bell is not saying anything new. He is just saying similar things to a new generation that never read the likes of C.S. Lewis.
Secondly, Bell is not a Universalist, even though some will say he is. He just simply believes that God wants all to be saved; yet some will reject him in spite of that reality.
Thirdly, the most controversial thing that Bell seems to believe is that we get another chance at heaven once we die.
April 4, 2011
Redefining Success.
Over the last couple months I have been processing a lot of the research and writing of both Chap Clark in his book Hurt and Kendra Dean’s book’s Almost Christian. I believe that they differ in their focus, and their focus leads them to make the conclusions they do about today’s youth and their spirituality. What emerges from both of them is the fact that teen’s spiritual faith is not in the place we would hope it would be. Clark believes it has something to do with systemic abandonment and Dean believes that it has something to do with the God that teens are perceiving in the church. I think both are correct and in fact related. The relational point is that adult in teen’s lives.
My pastor showed a video at a church meeting where fleas were placed on a table where they could be seen jumping about. In the video, a person then walked up and placed a glass jar over the fleas, restraining their ability to jump. After a little while, the person emerged again and removed the glass jar from on top of the fleas. The fleas had adapted to being in the glass jar and now only jumped as high as the jar would have allowed. For the rest of their lives, the fleas could only jump as high as the glass jar would have allowed too. In fact, the announcer proclaimed that not only would the fleas not be able to jump higher than the glass jar allowed, but also their off-spring would have the same limits.
After seeing this video it was as if a light bulb turned on over my head, yes like in the cartoons. I realized that it was highly unlikely that children and teens would never be able to develop a Christian life that was more mature than the adults in their lives. In fact, as Dean’s research shows, teens are developing a theology that reflects their church’s or parent’s spirituality. Yet, what Dean discuess is that almost no teens are reflecting the type of spirituality that is displayed in scripture. Teens are starting to believe in what is called, “Moralistic Therapeutic Deism.” In this spirituality, God is a feel good god that gives them what they like and solves their problems. As I joked with my pastor, it is like we are turning God into a Starbucks Barista.
As I sat and prayed over some of these topics this morning I had a thought, it all has to do with how we define “success.”
When I sit down and talk to local youth pastors and pastors in Orange County one key thing emerges, kids are way to busy. Teens are not only busy with sports, school, or other extra-curricular activities; they are busy with everything. Families and students are starting to believe that they will be fulfilled if they work their butts off to get into the best college, to then find the best job. Therefore, the best job, equals happiness.
Pastors aren’t the only one’s who are telling me this. There is not a week that goes by when I don’t hear from a student that they cannot come to youth group because of an AP test or a sports game. The funny thing is, many of them would rather come to youth group then study for 2 more hours for an AP test, or practice for 3 more hours for club soccer, but they continue to study and continue to practice. Why? Because they feel like they have to or they will let someone down. That if they come to church, they won’t get into the best school they can.
I was talking to a student after youth group one night who was apologizing to me for missing youth group for 2 months strait. I looked at this person and said, “you were missed, but I don’t blame you.” As this person continued to talk they were telling me about the pressure they felt to perform at school, do well on the SAT, and be in all the school activities. I just looked at them and said one thing, “you can tell your parents you feel this way.”
They looked right back at me with tears in their eyes and said, “You are going to make me cry.”
What are we telling our teens when they feel they need to set aside church or youth group to do school work or sports, because only those things will help them get to the point were they will be successful and happy in life?
I thing this all has to do with how we are defining success.
Many teens feel like if they don’t do all these things to get into the best college or to be the most popular person, they will have failed. Therefore, teen are forced to push themselves to be successful, but in doing so they push aside Jesus.
Jesus is not someone who is against success, in fact he was very successful at what he was sent to do, and it was just that he redefined what it meant to be successful. In the Kingdom of God success comes when we take up our cross and follow Jesus. Success comes when we become a servant of those in need.
The pictures of success Jesus paints are contrary to the ideas of success that the world tells our families, parents, and students. The world’s view of success entraps our families, parents, and teens and moves their focus from God to elsewhere.
That is why not only our teens, but adults need to come face to face with a gospel message that not only sets us free from sin, but sets us free from the culture we so easily can become enslaved too. A culture that defines success as the degree we have, the car in our driveway, or the money in our bank account; instead of the picture of success that Jesus paints: success as serving others.
In today’s world it is necessary that we see our job as ministering not only to teens, but also to their parents and other adults in our student’s lives. For it is these adults that inform the worldview of our teens and communicate to them what it means to be successful.
My pastor showed a video at a church meeting where fleas were placed on a table where they could be seen jumping about. In the video, a person then walked up and placed a glass jar over the fleas, restraining their ability to jump. After a little while, the person emerged again and removed the glass jar from on top of the fleas. The fleas had adapted to being in the glass jar and now only jumped as high as the jar would have allowed. For the rest of their lives, the fleas could only jump as high as the glass jar would have allowed too. In fact, the announcer proclaimed that not only would the fleas not be able to jump higher than the glass jar allowed, but also their off-spring would have the same limits.
After seeing this video it was as if a light bulb turned on over my head, yes like in the cartoons. I realized that it was highly unlikely that children and teens would never be able to develop a Christian life that was more mature than the adults in their lives. In fact, as Dean’s research shows, teens are developing a theology that reflects their church’s or parent’s spirituality. Yet, what Dean discuess is that almost no teens are reflecting the type of spirituality that is displayed in scripture. Teens are starting to believe in what is called, “Moralistic Therapeutic Deism.” In this spirituality, God is a feel good god that gives them what they like and solves their problems. As I joked with my pastor, it is like we are turning God into a Starbucks Barista.
As I sat and prayed over some of these topics this morning I had a thought, it all has to do with how we define “success.”
When I sit down and talk to local youth pastors and pastors in Orange County one key thing emerges, kids are way to busy. Teens are not only busy with sports, school, or other extra-curricular activities; they are busy with everything. Families and students are starting to believe that they will be fulfilled if they work their butts off to get into the best college, to then find the best job. Therefore, the best job, equals happiness.
Pastors aren’t the only one’s who are telling me this. There is not a week that goes by when I don’t hear from a student that they cannot come to youth group because of an AP test or a sports game. The funny thing is, many of them would rather come to youth group then study for 2 more hours for an AP test, or practice for 3 more hours for club soccer, but they continue to study and continue to practice. Why? Because they feel like they have to or they will let someone down. That if they come to church, they won’t get into the best school they can.
I was talking to a student after youth group one night who was apologizing to me for missing youth group for 2 months strait. I looked at this person and said, “you were missed, but I don’t blame you.” As this person continued to talk they were telling me about the pressure they felt to perform at school, do well on the SAT, and be in all the school activities. I just looked at them and said one thing, “you can tell your parents you feel this way.”
They looked right back at me with tears in their eyes and said, “You are going to make me cry.”
What are we telling our teens when they feel they need to set aside church or youth group to do school work or sports, because only those things will help them get to the point were they will be successful and happy in life?
I thing this all has to do with how we are defining success.
Many teens feel like if they don’t do all these things to get into the best college or to be the most popular person, they will have failed. Therefore, teen are forced to push themselves to be successful, but in doing so they push aside Jesus.
Jesus is not someone who is against success, in fact he was very successful at what he was sent to do, and it was just that he redefined what it meant to be successful. In the Kingdom of God success comes when we take up our cross and follow Jesus. Success comes when we become a servant of those in need.
The pictures of success Jesus paints are contrary to the ideas of success that the world tells our families, parents, and students. The world’s view of success entraps our families, parents, and teens and moves their focus from God to elsewhere.
That is why not only our teens, but adults need to come face to face with a gospel message that not only sets us free from sin, but sets us free from the culture we so easily can become enslaved too. A culture that defines success as the degree we have, the car in our driveway, or the money in our bank account; instead of the picture of success that Jesus paints: success as serving others.
In today’s world it is necessary that we see our job as ministering not only to teens, but also to their parents and other adults in our student’s lives. For it is these adults that inform the worldview of our teens and communicate to them what it means to be successful.
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